Guardian of a Fallen Queen

A loud series of knocks awoke Cameron from the best sleep he had gotten in weeks. Realizing they were coming from his front door, Cameron grumbled and got out of bed, making his way to the door. Umbra let out a tiny whimper at her source of warmth leaving her side. A small smile crept to Cameron’s face as he looked at the still sleeping Umbra. Cameron approached the oak front door and opened it slightly. It was blown the rest of the way open by a pink alicorn pouncing on Cameron like Hobbes.

“Cammy!” Cadance squealed.

“JESUS H. TAP DANCING CHRIST, CADANCE!” Calvin screamed as the alicorn hit him in the chest with a bone-crushing hug.

Cameron fell to the floor with the princess still wrapped tightly around him.

“Sorry.” She grinned sheepishly as she planted a kiss on his forehead.

“Well at least you didn’t injure me. Nearly gave me a heart attack, but I’m still ticking.” Cameron smiled.

Then IT hit him.

He heard Umbra’s quiet hoofsteps in the bedroom slowly approach the doorway.

He remembered who was just twenty feet away and now probably awoken by the commotion in the foyer.

It was too late to do anything. Umbra was as good as dead.

Umbra rounded the corner and her gaze fell upon Cameron, still wrapped up by the Princess of Love.

Umbra’s face became one of pure terror as she saw the one she feared the most attached to his body.

Cadance looked up and saw the former queen staring at her, a single tear running down Umbra’s right cheek.

“Cameron? Who’s your new marefriend?” Cadance asked, a sly smile on her face.

Cameron’s mind faltered. Had Umbra’s appearance changed that much?

“I...uh...she’s-” Cameron tried to sputter out.

“She’s smokin is what she is!” Cadance said in a crude manner.

“You sound like a single stallion at a bar, Cady,” Cameron said.

“Well come on, Cam! She’s got your other necklace on! What am I supposed to think?” Cadance said, getting off of Cameron’s body, allowing him to stand.

Cameron rushed over to Umbra.

“Umbra, I have to tell her. It’s best we get this out of the way as quickly as possible,” Cameron whispered in her ear with a sense of urgency.

“What the buck? No way! I don’t want to die!” Umbra hissed.

“Sorry Umbra, but I have no idea how else to deal with this. I won’t let you die, you mean too much to me, despite how briefly we’ve known each other,” Cameron said before turning around.

“Wha-wait? What?” Umbra’s mind reeled at his final words.

“Cadance, this is Queen Umbra,” Cameron said firmly.

“Very funny, Cam. What’s her real name?” Cadance rolled her eyes.

“Queen Umbra,” Cameron said again.

“The joke is getting old, Cam, what’s her name?” Cadence said, her tone becoming more annoyed than amused.

“Queen Umbra. Formerly Queen of the Crystal Empire,” Cameron said without faltering.

Cadance opened her mouth before looking at Umbra’s form shaking in a mixture of fear and anger behind Cameron’s body.

It really is her, isn’t it? Cadance thought to herself, But she looks so different. Her horn and eyes are normal except for those red eyes of hers. By Starswirl’s beard...

Cadance’s eyes shot to Umbra’s flank and saw the purple crystal heart emblazoned there.

“Cameron, step away from her,” Cadance ordered, powering up her horn.

“No,” Cameron said, keeping a stoic look upon his face as he gazed into Cadance’s eyes.

“CAMERON, MOVE SO I CAN KILL THIS TYRANT ONCE AND FOR ALL!” Cadance shouted in a mixture of anger and annoyance.

“No. She’s changed, Cadance. However, if you do not believe me, you’ll just have to kill me too,” Cameron said, his tone cool as ice.

“SHE HAS YOU UNDER SOME SPELL! PLEASE JUST MOVE!” Cadance yelled.

“She has not the slightest ability to use her magic. She can barely lift anything, much less use a mind control spell on me,” Cameron continued in the same emotionless and icy tone.

Cadance cast her aura on Cameron’s body, attempting to move him out of the way.

Cameron’s crystal flashed and Cadance’s spell died out instantly.

“What in the...” Cadance looked at the necklace in bewilderment.

“I just used the magical killing field part of this here security system. You will not harm Umbra so long as I am alive to do so. Then again, killing your best friend would be an act your people would never forgive,” Cameron said with the same smooth and unfaltering tone as before.

“Cameron, why?” Cadance said, a look of shock and utter bafflement on her face.

“Why, Cadance? Because Umbra has changed. Her body and mind that were once controlled by demons are finally free from their grasp. She was merely a surrogate and nothing more. She reminds me of myself as a teenager. Someone who was doing as commanded by others until they figured out that they needed to do the right fucking thing and free themselves from another’s thinking to make their own destiny,” Cameron explained.

Cadance flinched at Cameron’s harsh language.

It began to make sense to the alicorn finally. Umbra had no control over her actions. That would explain the evil aura that surrounded her eyes and the way her horn became curved and sharp as she ruled. Those were the marks the demons had created upon her body.

“Cameron, Umbra...” Cadance whispered in shock and understanding.

Cameron felt Umbra’s head rest on his back and a few tears soak through his shirt.

“Cadance, come here.” Cameron motioned the pink alicorn over to him.

Cadance approached warily.

“Umbra, please.” Cameron gestured for Umbra to come out from her hiding spot behind Cameron.

Slowly, she emerged and her red and tear-irritated eyes locked with Cadance’s own.

“Princess.” Umbra gave a bow to the alicorn and a tear fell to the floor.

“Umbra, I’m sorry I didn’t see that the glow that the demons cast upon you had disappeared. I feel terrible for shrieking in such a manner and ruining your peace with your-erm-special someone.” Cadance said, her voice wavering a bit.

“Special someone? Oh...um...” Umbra stammered, unsure of how to respond.

“I guess I better leave and let you two resume what you were doing.” Cadance smiled.

Cameron stood up and grabbed Cadance by the barrel and hauled her into the living room.

“GAH!” Cadance yelped in surprise.

Cameron set her down and looked into her eyes.

“Cady, thank you.” Cameron hugged the pink alicorn.

Cadance, unsure of how to respond exactly, returned the hug.

“I ought to get going. Shiny will be worried. How about we talk over tea tomorrow?” Cadance offered.

“That sound fine,” Cameron replied.

“Oh, and Umbra is welcome to tag along with you. Just make sure she stays out of sight. I’m sure you know why.” Cadance smiled back at Cameron before she made her way out of the house.

Cameron walked into the foyer and saw no sign of Umbra.

Worried, he popped his head into the bedroom and saw Umbra with her head buried in a pillow.

“Umbra? You ok?” Cameron asked as he approached the unicorn.

Her answer came in the form of her head shooting straight up and looking at him.

In a flash, Umbra lept up and had latched herself onto Cameron’s chest, flinging him backwards into the wall.

“Jesus, Umbra!” Cameron shouted in surprise.

“Cameron Lovett! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!” Umbra yelled at the top of her lungs.

Cameron could only stare back in shock at her words.

“Y-you love me?” Cameron stammered.

“Cam, I know it’s been less than a week since we met, but you’ve given me so much and cared for me like nopony has ever done before! I know in my heart that we are meant to be!” Umbra shouted.

“Umbra...I...I-” Cameron had no clue how to word this properly to the mare latched onto him.

“What?” Umbra’s grip slackened as she looked at Cameron with a curious expression.

“Umbra, how would you know what love is without being with a bunch of stallions first?” Cameron asked.

“I-I don’t understand-” Umbra stuttered.

“Umbra, what I’m trying to say is that love takes time to find. It’s not just something you stumble upon when you meet someone,” Cameron explained further.

“I don’t understand-” Umbra tried to say before Cameron cut her off again.

“Umbra, you can’t waste your time with me. I’m not your special somepony. You need to go out into the world and find somepony else, not some human doctor that would make you worse off socially than you already are!” Cameron pulled Umbra off his body and lightly tossed her to the side.

“Cameron? What? I-” Umbra was cut off for the third time as Cameron continued.

“UMBRA, I’M NOT THE ONE FOR YOU! If we were to get together, it would only end in anger, bitterness, and strife. None of which I want in my life. And what if I try to take you out? Have you ever thought that the people of this empire haven’t exactly forgiven you yet. You’d be dead within the hour. Where would that leave me? With another fucking hole torn clean through my heart!” Cameron yelled, his anger and anguish showing as a vein in his neck throbbed. Their tea time

Umbra’s eyes welled up with tears as she pushed Cameron out the door and slammed it in his face.

Cameron let out a scream of pure rage as he opened the door and stormed out of the house into the chilly night air.

He made his way to the local park and sat down under a large tree closing his eyes as tears streamed out of the corners of them. Memories came flooding back to him like a tidal wave of grief.

The smile

The laugh

The skip

The gun

The shot

The bullet wound

The ring upon her finger that now shone with her own blood as it clutched her now still chest.

His scream of anguish as she lay there dying on the ground of a damp alley.

These memories were all too fresh in Cameron’s mind as he began to sob with his head in his hands.

He felt so guilty turning Umbra away like that, even though he had felt it as much as she had.

That feeling of butterflies whenever she was around, the way his heart soared when he was close to her and felt her silky fur underneath his fingers.

But he couldn’t bear to lose another love as he had before.

Meanwhile, Umbra sat screaming, her anguish matching Cameron’s own as she repeatedly smashed the pillow with her hoof.

He was holding something back from her, but she didn’t know what it was.

She let out one final cry of sadness before falling silent and succumbing to exhaustion. She knew that Cameron was the one without having to meet any other stallion. They fit together like a puzzle. Yet, Cameron couldn’t seem to solve that puzzle, or he had given up on it.

Cameron still sat with tears rolling down his cheeks as his mind continued to flash images of his lovely fiance Sarah and her sudden death those many years ago. He could never fill the gap that she did in his life ever again.

Then something popped into Cameron’s head. A quote he remembered his professor saying to him as he graduated medical school.

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

Never would Cameron have ever thought that Carl Sagan’s words would help him until now.

He rose to his feet and wiped the tears away, knowing what he had to do.

Cameron closed the door behind him and walked to the bedroom.

Swinging the door open, he saw Umbra’s body heaving with sobs.

He rushed to her side and picked her up, making her let out a shrill cry of surprise.

“Umbra. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to make you sad, I was afraid I could lose you like I did with my last love. But only love can fill that hole. A love that I realize I have for you.” Cameron said, wiping away Umbra’s tears and looking into her sparkling red eyes.

Without another word, their lips met as they each pushed into the kiss further with equal force.

As they broke apart, they looked at each other with forgiveness and relief in their eyes.

“Cameron, promise to not keep any more secrets from me,” Umbra said as she looked at Cameron.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Cameron said, making the well known gesture of the Pinkie Promise as he leaned in to kiss the unicorn again.